Mistra Arctic researcher Daniel Svensson participate in a podcast where the landscapes of movement in the swedish mountains is further explained. The podcast (52.28 minutes, in Swedish) is available at the podcast programme “Storslagen Fjällmiljö“.

Peter Sköld, administrative manager and WP1 leader, has been appointed Climate Ambassador of Västerbotten County in Northern Sweden. A climate ambassador is a famous person who in one way or another have helped to highlight the climate issue through their own involvement or curiosity.

Today it has been revealed that Dieter Müller, who together with Olle Stjernström is the leader of Mistra Arctic Sustainable Development’s (MASD’s) work package 4, has been appointed vice rector of Umeå University from July 1st this year. Dieter Müller is Professor of Human Geography and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Umeå University. As vice rector, he will receive a special responsibility for research and research training in social sciences and humanities.

If you are a PhD student and if you have not yet applied for Barents Summer School 2016 , I hope you will give this opportunity another thought. Deadline for application is now extended to May 30th!

The interdisciplinary course “Towards Sustainable Communities” covers the complexity of sustainability of the communities in the Barents Region. Besides keynote lectures and sauna mingel, the students are expected to prepare in advance a short article and an oral presentation of their work, which will be presented during the summer school. The students have the responsibility to read and comment at least one article from a fellow student. We will send instructions in due time before the course, and publish and distribute the articles in a form of proceedings (in electronic form).

The course is sceduled August 1-6 in Oulanka, Finland. Student expenses regarding travel and accommodation, will be covered by external funding.

March 23rd, 2016 | Posted by Lena Maria Nilsson in News - (Comments Off on Arctic governance in focus in a new report from SIPRI)

Mistra Arctic researchers are involved in a new SIPRI report called “The New Arctic Governance”. In a press release from SIPRI the book is described like this:

“At a time when many regions of the world are facing growing confrontation and even conflict, the authors consider whether the experience of fashioning multilateral, cooperative and peaceful governance in the Arctic offers lessons to other parts of the world? Looking ahead, the volume is designed to explore the sustainability of current governance trends in the Arctic. To what extent is cooperation in the Arctic the result of issues specific to the region today? Are current relationships and institutions durable in the light of emerging competition and even confrontation between key Arctic players elsewhere in the world? What steps might be taken to consolidate cooperation as the central political and security dynamic in the Arctic?”

Both editors Linda Jakobson and Neil Melvin are engaged in Mistra Arctic, as well as Ekaterina Klimenko, one of the authors. Read more!

February 1st, 2016 | Posted by Lena Maria Nilsson in News - (Comments Off on Ny-Ålesund in focus in a recent PhD thesis by Mistra Arctic’s Eric Paglia)

January 22 Eric Paglia defended his thesis: The Northward Course of the Anthropocene: Transformation, Temporality and Telecoupling in a Time of Environmental Crisis.

“Several dissertation themes were observed in practice at the international science community of Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard, where global change is made visible through a concentration of scientific activity. Ny-Ålesund is furthermore a place of geopolitics, where extra-regional states attempt to enhance their legitimacy as Arctic stakeholders through the performance of scientific research undertakings, participation in governance institutions, and by establishing a physical presence in the Far North. This dissertation concludes that this small and remote community represents an Anthropocene node of global environmental change, Earth system science, emergent global governance, geopolitics, and stakeholder construction in an increasingly telecoupled world.”

January 12th, 2016 | Posted by Lena Maria Nilsson in News - (Comments Off on Mistra Arctic researcher contributes to a new book on the changing Arctic and the European Union)

Mistra Arctic researcher Lize-Marie Van der Watt is the main author of a chapter in the new book: The Changing Arctic and the European Union, edited by Adam Stępień, Timo Koivurova and Paula Kankaanpää.

The chapter, called “European Arctic Initiatives: Capacities, Gaps and Future Opportunities” pro­vides an inventory of various existing European Arctic initiatives as well as the over­view of identified gaps in information and communication regarding the region. These serve as a factual support for discussion in the book. It is not possible to understand the EU’s position in the Arctic governance or analyse the actions of the EU institutions without bearing in mind the complex landscape of structures, institutions, programmes and actions that constitute the EU-Arctic nexus. Read more.

December 4th, 2015 | Posted by Lena Maria Nilsson in News - (Comments Off on Peter Sköld participates in a COP21 side-event)

Peter Sköld, Arcum, Umeå, participates as a lecturer in Arctic lessons – a side event to the COP21 meeting i Paris. Arctic lessons is hosted by the Arctic University of Tromsö (UiT), together with partners from Aarhus University, Umeå University, Univesity of Iceland and University of Lapland. The event takes place at the COP21 venue, Observer Room 03, Saturday, December 5th, 15.00-16.30. Read more on UiTs homepage.

November 10th, 2015 | Posted by Lena Maria Nilsson in Okategoriserade - (Comments Off on Formas supports study on small villages in Northern Sweden with 3 million SEK)

Dean and Doris Carson, participants of the first work package of the Mistra Arctic programme (WP1), have received a grant of 3 million SEK from the Swedish Research Council Formas. The aim of the study is to examine how demographic change in the north is affecting small villages. They will develop a computer model which can simulate village life, and look at what happens under various scenarios – such as when schools or hospitals open or close, new businesses come to the village, resource projects begin or end in the region, or new tourism developments occur. Case studies will be performed in Vilhelmina, Storuman and Arvidsjaur. The project runs from 2016 to 2018.

Urban Wråkberg, senior researcher in Mistra Arctic’s work package 4 (WP4), has recently been appointed professor in Northern Studies at University of Tromsö (UiT) – the Arctic University of Norway.

Urban Wråkberg conducts research on social, political and scientific issues of the north, with a focus on the Euroarctic and the Barents Region. He has published in English, Swedish, Norwegian, and Russian on the history of polar research in Scandinavia, on the socio-economic context of northern technoscience, on arctic geopolitics, and on indigenous traditional knowledge. He analyzes theories and practices of sustainability, and undertakes applied research on economic growth and northern regional and industrial development.